Ahmedabad, May 27

Jos Buttler extended his dream run this season with a record-equalling fourth hundred as Rajasthan Royals produced a ruthless performance to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets today to reach their first IPL final since the inaugural edition in 2008.

Pacer Prasidh Krishna (3/22) came back strongly from the hammering he received in the last game to help Rajasthan restrict Bangalore to 157/8 in the Qualifier 2 despite a stellar 42-ball 58 from Rajat Patidar.

Buttler (106 not out off 60 balls), the leading run-getter of the tournament, then toyed with the Bangalore attack to ensure Rajasthan romped to victory in 18.1 overs. With his special innings, Buttler matched Virat Kohli for most hundreds in a single season. Kohli had achieved the feat in 2016.

Brief Scores: RCB: 157/8 in 20 overs (Patidar 58; Krishna 3/22); RR: 161/3 in 18.1 overs (Buttler 106*; Hazlewood 2/23).

Chennai, May 26

Chinese world No. 2 Ding Liren seized the advantage against India's teenaged Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa in the final of the Chessable Masters online tournament, taking a 2.5-1.5 lead after the opening day of the match in the wee hours on Thursday.

The 16-year old, who lost the opening game of the all-Asian final, bounced back strongly to level the first match when he won the second game. Liren then showed why he is rated so highly by taking the lead and outwitting the youngster in the third game. The fourth game saw the two sign peace in 39 moves as Liren took a one-point advantage into Day 2 of the summit clash. The second day of the final will also feature four games and the tie-break if required. Praggnanandhaa, who had to appear for his Class XI examination after seeing off Anish Giri on Wednesday, has been making waves since the preliminary phase.

Ahmedabad, May 26

Rajasthan Royals will need to shake off an ordinary bowling performance in their last outing when they clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore, a team which seems to be peaking at the right time, in the high-stakes IPL Qualifier 2 here tomorrow.

Having sneaked into the playoffs, Bangalore are on a roll. A tight win over Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator has fuelled expectations for a long-awaited trophy.

They take on Rajasthan, a team which has all the bases covered but still came up short against Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1. The IPL caravan now moves to Ahmedabad after a couple of high-scoring games in Kolkata. It has been a quick turnaround for Bangalore and they would be hoping to ride the momentum.

New Delhi, May 26

India's premier long jumper Murali Sreeshankar won the gold medal at the 12th International Jumping Meeting in Kallithea, Greece, with an effort of 8.31 metres.

The Tokyo Olympian is the current national record holder with a jump of 8.36m, which he had achieved last month.

Sreeshankar was followed by Swede Thobias Montler, who claimed silver with an 8.27m jump, and France's Jules Pommery, who bagged bronze with an 8.17m effort in the 10-player field. Only the top-three jumpers crossed the 8m mark.

Meanwhile, Jeswin Aldrin finished fifth after he jumped 7.69m at the 17th Ibero-American Meeting in Huelva, Spain. Filip Pravdiva of Croatia (7.91m), Uruguay's Emiliano Lasa (7.82m) and Peruvian Jose Luis Mandros (7.77m) completed the top-three of the seven-player field.

Paris: India's Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza notched up contrasting wins with their respective partners in the men's and women's doubles competitions today. While Bopanna and his Dutch partner Matwe Middelkoop marched into the pre-quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-4 win over Andrey Golubev and Fabrice Martin, Sania combined with Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka to prevail 4-6 6-2 6-1 over Jasmine Paolini and Martina Trevisan in their opening round. Ramkumar Ramanathan and his partner Hunter Reese suffered a 3-6 2-6 loss.

Jakarta, May 26

Rising to the occasion, a young India men's hockey thrashed hosts Indonesia 16-0 to qualify for the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup here on Thursday.

The massive win not only secured India's passage into the knockout stage of the tournament but also shut the door on Pakistan.

Both India and Pakistan finished on four points each in Pool A behind Japan but the holders qualified for the Super 4s on the basis of a better goal difference (1).

India needed to beat Indonesia by a 15-0 margin or more to make it to the next round and the defending champions rode on splendid show from Dipsan Tirkey, who hammered five goals, and Sudev Belimagga, who sounded the board thrice.

Veteran SV Sunil, Pawan Rajbhar and Karthi Selvam scored a brace each while Uttam Singh and Nilam Sanjeep Xess scored a goal each.

Pakistan had lost 2-3 to Japan earlier in the day.

Jakarta, May 25

Defending champions India need to beat hosts Indonesia by a huge margin and hope Japan defeat Pakistan in the other Pool A match if they are to advance to the Super 4 stage of the men's Asia Cup here tomorrow.

India's fate is no longer in their own hands as even a win against a lowly Indonesia will not guarantee them a knockouts berth. With a draw and a loss, India are placed third in Pool A behind Japan (6 points) and Pakistan (4 points). India fielded a young team alongside a handful of seniors like Birendra Lakra and SV Sunil, who looked well past their prime.

India let in a last-minute goal to draw 1-1 against Pakistan in their opener before being thrashed 5-2 by Japan. But now, an almost impossible task awaits as India have an inferior goal difference (-3) as against Pakistan's (+13). If Pakistan lose, India will have to secure a huge win to go past their neighbours on goal difference and into the second place in the pool.